Etymologically
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turunda

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Forms

turunda f (genitive turundae); first declension[1] Gaffiot marks the first vowel long, Conte short.[2][3] A glossary has the by-form torunda.[4]

Etymology

The origin is doubtful.[5] Georges suggests that it stands for ⟨terenda⟩ “something to be rubbed”, from terō (“to rub, grind”),[4] and Köbler also refers it to that verb.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cato the Elder uses it in the De agri cultura, both of pellets for fattening birds and of a pellet used in treating sores: of a fistula he says turundam intro trudito (“push a pellet into it”).[5][7][3]

Semantic evolution

Varro uses it of the pellets of meal used to fatten fowls,[7][3] and Nonius quotes him for a kind of sacrificial cake.[7][2] In medicine it named a roll of lint or a tent for wounds, as in Cato and Scribonius Largus.[7]

Timeline

  • 234–149 BC – Cato the Elder uses it of fattening pellets and of a medical pellet.[5][7][6]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of pellets for fattening fowls and of a sacrificial cake.[7][6]
  • c. 47 AD – Scribonius Largus uses it of a roll of lint.[7][6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A pellet of meal or paste for fattening birds, especially geese.[5][7]
  2. A kind of sacrificial cake.[5][7]
  3. (medicine) A pellet, roll of lint or tent for treating sores and wounds.[5][7]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  3. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  5. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press